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Monday, 30 March 2015

Hello, fellow YA Book Clubbers! Looking forward to reading your reviews, and a big thanks to Tracey Neithercott for hosting!

A FRIENDLY WORD OF WARNING: While my review doesn’t give away specific
spoilers, certain plot points can probably be inferred from what I’ve written
here, so if you haven’t read the book, you might want to skip my review.

Let me start by saying, I really, really wanted to love RED QUEEN. The
description sounded awesome—red against silver blood, an mc with powers she
shouldn’t have, a rebellion, a forced betrothal to a prince—but ultimately the
book fell short for me. The following is just my opinion, and I hope I’ve
offered criticism respectfully. I don’t
want to be negative, but I’m going to give an honest review. Also, sorry about the length, but I wanted to back up my POV.

World-building

Mare’s world had the potential to be fascinating but never felt fully
realized to me. By the description, I though the book was fantasy, so I
initially pictured something with a more historic influence. When things like
electricity, TV screens, and other sci-fi details showed up, I was a bit
confused. While I certainly think speculative fiction can be a blend of fantasy
and sci-fi (obviously), the technical details in RQ didn’t seem to mesh with
the Roman influence, which was never really developed a lot either.

I also didn’t get a sense of things like landscape, architecture, or
how rooms looked. Characters seemed to be floating in a generic space much of
the time, but more specific details would’ve helped me imagine the setting better.
Similarly, I wanted a more thorough idea of the culture on both sides of the
conflict beyond the fact that Reds were poor and downtrodden, and Silvers were mostly
cruel, had powers, and were born into houses identified by particular colors.

I thought the conflict between the Reds and Silvers was a good basis
for the story, but I would’ve liked more background on how this evolutionary divide
was originally discovered. Along with that, I would’ve appreciated more
information on the apocalyptic event that changed the world. We see the
remnants of what I assume is our current world in the City of Ruins (that
revelation felt very District 13 to me & the Bowl of Bones was reminiscent of the HG arena), but this
setting and its occupants was never developed. Perhaps in book two?

More information on the war would also have been helpful. I wasn’t sure
what they were fighting about exactly. If the author mentioned it, I don’t
remember. The war itself seemed used as a way to oppress the Reds, but in and
of itself didn’t serve much purpose in the plot. The Lakelanders were
the enemy, but nothing was ever explained about them. A map in the front of the
book would’ve helped sort out some of the places mentioned as well.

Characters

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel a strong connection to the characters. When
the story began, I liked that Mare was on the prickly side—a rough around the
edges thief trying to help her family survive—but once she got to the palace,
that toughness faded. Even with her ability to create/control electricity, her
survival instinct often took a back seat to relying on the princes for
protection or being told what to do by the Scarlet Guard. I liked that she
cared about her family and Kilorn and was willing to sacrifice herself to help
them, but overall I didn’t feel there was much to know about her personally.

To me, the princes were all over the map. I wanted to love Cal. His character
started off well, with the insinuation that he might sympathize with the Reds,
but he was inconsistent—noble and compassionate one minute and cruel the next. It was never really shown why he supposedly loved
Mare either, problematic considering how much the rebels staked on his feelings
for her in their big plan. This made the romance unconvincing for me.

While it’s understandable why Maven might come across as inconsistent,
I think his personality waffled too extremely. At times he seemed cowardly,
expressed in his physical demeanor, only to turn around and appear brave and
unleash his temper. We were also never told anything specific about Maven
personally, for example, what his likes/interests were. Cal was portrayed as a
warrior with a passion for motorbikes, but we weren't given any such details
about Maven. That was a tip off to me early on.

Plot

As I said above, I thought the dynamic of Reds versus Silvers was an
interesting concept, especially that the group with supernatural abilities was
in power rather than being oppressed. This seemed to flip other similar stories
around (X-Men, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi). However, the conflict never really
went beyond the basics of Silvers keeping Reds under their thumb.

I liked what the Scarlet Guard brought to the story and also the
revelations about red blood with silver abilities, but the big plot twist in the
end didn’t come as a surprise. From the moment the royal family was introduced,
I had my suspicions because of the dynamic there: Older son is king’s favourite
and will inherit the throne, while younger son by a different (evil) mother
lives in his shadow. What I don’t understand, especially considering Elara’s
abilities as a whisper and Cal’s previous loyalty and dedication as a general, is
why anyone actually believed the lie about how things went down. And why didn’t
Cal point that out or defend himself?

One thing I thought was written particularly well is the way Mare
questioned the actions of the Scarlet Guard and her own participation in their
violence. It was realistic that Mare, sucked into all of this, would feel that
way, especially once she began to realize not all Silvers were terrible people.
This moral dilemma was a good addition to Mare’s character.

And while the romantic in me wanted Mare to end up with someone (and I’m
sure she will yet in the series), it was refreshing and realistic that she didn’t
make a choice about a love interest at the end of book one. There was no
miraculous forgiveness for the sake of romance, rather an admission that there
was too much betrayal for her to give her heart to anyone.

Overall

I know I’ve listed a lot of criticisms here, and I feel bad about that,
but overall I wanted more from RED QUEEN because I think it had a ton of
potential. Had certain aspects of the world-building and plot been fleshed out
more or had the characters been portrayed on a deeper more personal level, I
think it could have been phenomenal. Instead, and I cringe when I say this, it
seemed like another Hunger Games clone. Those are my thoughts, and I hope
they come across as more disappointed than belittling.

Wednesday, 25 March 2015

As most of
you know, this has been a busy year for me so far, and it’s about to get busier.
I started homeschooling my son at a high school level this fall, which has been
very demanding (although rewarding), and now my family is going through a huge
transition as we prepare for a cross-country move. Because of all this
busyness, I’m finding it harder and harder to devote time to writing. And I’m
exhausted. So that means cutting back. While I’ve enjoyed hosting WUW with
Jaime for the past two years, it’s a big time commitment, one I can no longer
fit into my weekly schedule. I’ve loved getting to know all of you through WUW,
and I really hope the connections we’ve made will continue through other means, but
writing and family need to be my main priorities right now. Thanks for all your
participation and best of luck with your writing endeavors!

Here’s a
letter Jaime put together on behalf of both of us. I think it sums everything
up nicely:

After a good
deal of thought and discussion, Erin and I have reached the decision to wind
down What’s Up Wednesday. We started this little blog hop in April of 2013, and
it has been two years of making so many awesome connections with writer friends
like you, sharing “what’s up” each and every week. You have provided
accountability and encouragement to us on this writing journey, and for that we
are more grateful than you will ever know.

You might be
wondering why What’s Up Wednesday is coming to an end, so we figure you deserve
an explanation: In short, we would like to place our focus more on writing and
less on blogging. Over time, What’s Up Wednesday has strayed a bit from the
writing and has moved more toward the other headings we have been using, which
is fine, but this blog hop was always intended to be mainly about the
writing. Always the writing. In order to get back to that
focus on our WiPs, we would like to take part in more writing intensives as
they crop up throughout the year. As most of these intensives include a weekly
check-in post of some kind, we both feel that coupling these posts with a
regular What’s Up Wednesday post is far too time-consuming. Time that could be
spent on our WiPs and on that pesky little thing called family.

SO, while
What’s Up Wednesday is drawing to a close, we still hope to touch base with you
in a variety of ways around the interwebs through social media and the many
writing intensives and other fun events hosted here and elsewhere. We hope to
do a Month In Review type of post at the end of each month,
but this will simply be an informal rundown of the reading, writing, and other
life stuff we did over the course of the month. You’re welcome to join us,
though there won’t be a link-up of any kind. Maybe a hashtag? We haven’t really
thought that far ahead, to be honest.

Some
writing- and reading-related things to look forward to on the horizon:

Tracey Neithercott’s YA Book Club →
This month we’re reading RED QUEEN by
Victoria Aveyard and will be posting our reviews and discussing it on our
blogs on Monday, March 30th. You should join us!

The Ready. Set. WRITE! summer
intensive → Hosted by a group of ladies that includes Erin and me, this
writing intensive runs from June right through August. Many of you have
joined us in the past and we look forward to writing and revising
alongside you again this summer. Stay tuned for further details!

Spontaneous writing parties
on Twitter → There always seems to be a cluster of writers working on
their WiPs all throughout the day and evening, popping onto Twitter and
doing sprints together, keeping one another accountable. You should give
it a try sometime!

NaNoWriMo → We’re sure you’re all
more than aware of this November writing event.

Should you
wish to continue doing What’s Up Wednesday, we invite you to do so. There will
not be a link-up on our blogs, but you are welcome to keep posting with the WUW
headings. If you should choose to do so, we would ask respectfully that
you not give us attribution in your posts and that you would
also discontinue use of the WUW buttons as we will no longer be moderating.
(With regards to the buttons, as the images were paid for, there is the concern
that this might open up legal issues pertaining to their use.) Again, we would like to thank you for taking part in our blog hop and for
keeping us encouraged week in and week out. You are wonderful people! We hope
to cross paths with you all, but if we don’t, we wish you all the best on your
writing journey!

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by my sister Jaime
and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like
to participate, please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some
writerly encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

What I’m Reading:

I’m supposed to be reading Sapphire
Blue by Kerstin Gier and Red Queen
by Victoria Aveyard, but I haven’t made much headway. Reading time has
been super scarce lately. I need to pull up my socks if I want
to finish on time for Tracey Neithercott's YA Book Club at the end of the month.

What I’m Writing:

In the last week, I’ve written about 4700 words. I recently had a breakthrough that’s making act 3 of my WIP more interesting and also more complicated. I’m trying my best to pull it off though. It just goes to
show that no matter how much you plan, the creative process still throws some surprises
at you along the way. I’m getting very close to the end of this book, which also
means the end of my trilogy, and while I need to hurry up and finish before we
move, I’m not at all prepared for the emotional fallout of closing off this
story and saying goodbye to these characters. In a word (my favourite word
actually): Bittersweet.

My writing goal this week:Still going with my not so long term
goal of working my butt off to finish before we move. I have around nine scenes
left, some of which are pretty long. Who am I kidding? This whole freaking book
is pretty long.

What Works For Me:

Working on my entire trilogy at the same time. I’ve heard differing
points of view on this issue. Some say not to start writing the next
book, because an agent/editor might want to make drastic changes. Others say it’s
a good idea to write the whole thing at once so you
can address any consistency issues before the first book is in print. Obviously, I’m in the second camp.

I decided early on that even if I didn’t have an agent or any
publishing prospects, I wanted to power through and finish the entire story. I went with my
inspiration and that's provided the motivation I needed to get this far. These
characters grabbed hold of me in a way that I’ve never experienced before, and
the thought of working on something new before their story was told just wasn’t
an option for me. Not to mention, I recently discovered a smallish plot hole in book
one (Envision) that needs to be fixed
all this time later. I plan to reread the whole trilogy once I’m done revising Engrave and Enlighten, just to make sure everything is smooth, consistent, and
plot hole free.

What Else Is New:

We celebrated my son’s birthday with cupcakes from our favourite peanut
free bakery, 3D glow-in-the-dark pirate themed mini golf, and dinner/coffee with
the in-laws. It was a fun day. Even managed to squeeze in a little book
shopping. Because after packing 40 boxes
of books for our move, you know I need to buy more.

The hubby and I finished season 2 of The 100. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched a show with so many plot
holes or blatantly incorrect science (come on, at least try to convince us you did some research), but I’m STILL completely addicted. It
also cracks me up that half the cast of Battlestar Galactica has been on it.
Kind of funny seeing as The 100 is
basically Battlestar-lite. My favourite character? Octavia. A badass girl played by a cool Canadian actress. Can’t wait for season 3 and to maybe check out the books sometime.

Other than that, it’s renovations and packing as usual. To those of you
who passed along well wishes for my son last week, I should mention that the
doctor decided against surgery at the last minute. I’m hoping that was the
right judgment call, but I’m glad he didn’t have to go through the experience.
Thanks for your kind thoughts and comments!

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by my sister Jaime
and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like
to participate, please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some
writerly encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

No WUW for me again this week. Today is my son’s birthday, and we just
found out that he’s scheduled for surgery this Friday, so family time is top
priority right now. Hope you all have a lovely week!

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

In case you’re new to WUW, it’s a blog hop created by my sister Jaime
and me, intended to help writers keep in touch with one another. If you’d like
to participate, please sign up on the linky below, and be sure to spread some
writerly encouragement around to at least a few other people taking part. Also, please remember to link back to our
host blogs and/or use one of the WUW buttons. Thanks!

Wish I could join you guys for WUW, but our house is in chaos, and I'm buried under an avalanche of boxes. Not so fun moving fact: We
were quoted $0.83/pound for moving our stuff. Just one of our boxes of books
weighs around 40 pounds. Not including everything else we own, we have 40 boxes
of books. Eek! $0.83 x 40 x 40 = scary. All right, enough headache inducing
math and boring moving details. Have a super productive week everyone!